By George Mwangi

Special to Dow Jones Newswires


Eswatini raw-sugar production is forecast to rise by 2% in the marketing year beginning May 2022 through April 2023, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said.

Production is estimated to rise to 630,000 tons in the current year from 615,000 tons in the preceding year, the USDA said in its recent Eswatini (formerly Swaziland) annual sugar report.

The increase was attributed to more sugarcane delivered to sugar mills, the extension of the crushing season, and improved sugar-mill efficiencies, it said.

However, the quality of sugarcane has been adversely affected by an increase in global prices of inputs like fertilizers, the cost of which is already high for small-scale farmers, the USDA said.

Sugar-milling companies are pushing to reduce production costs and improve their financial performance as they are under pressure from declining global sugar prices, it added.

Sugar mills in Eswatini were classified as an essential service during the Covid-19 pandemic, and operations followed a normal schedule in the prior year and are expected to continue in the current year, the USDA said.


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05-12-22 0856ET